Ally Common Issues – How to Fix Them

Ally Common Issues – How to Fix Them

Contents

1. Tables missing headers

2. Add Image Descriptions

3. Add Headings to a Document

4. The PDF is untagged

5. Remove Potentially Harmful Content

6. Scanned PDFs

7. Fix Text Contrast

8. Font Selection

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Tables missing headers

Blackboard Support article

Ally documentation score at twenty two percent with statement that says "this document contains tables that are missing headers." Two other clickable box options. One box says What this means and other box says how to set table headers.

1. Select How to set table headers and follow the instructions.

2. Open the Word file or PowerPoint on your computer.

3. Click Review > Check Accessibility.

 

Two words in a one bar graph that say Word and Powerpoint

Accessibility button in Word with a red arrow pointing to it. Accessibility button with a red arrow pointing to it in PowerPoint.

 

4. Click the right arrow.

Red arrow point to words that say no header row with a number 1 in parentheses around it.

5. Hover over Table, click the down arrow and then select Use first row as header.

Accessibility dropdown menu with a red arrow with a red number one next to it. There is another red arrow with a number 2 next to it pointing to a recommended actions option. With the recommended options dropdown menu is a red arrow pointing to words that say use first row as header.

 

6. Save the file.

7. Go back to the file within your Blackboard course and click on the Ally score icon.

8. Click Browse, select the file and click Open.

An Ally percentage score at 22 percent that says the document contains tables that are missing headers below it. There is also a box with text that say what this means. There is also another button that says How to set tables headers. Another clickable button is below this with a red arrow pointing to a browse option. This box also contains an option to upload a file.

Add Image Descriptions

See: Blackboard Support Article

If you have placed an image within the Ultra document content editor, the image will need an alternative description associated with it.

Red Ally score indicator that is a 25 percent with text below it that says This image is mission an alternate description. Below this is a clickable option that says what this means. There is another clickable box under this that says How to write a good description. Another box option is below this that say Add alternative descriptions with a button that says add next to it.

1. Click the Ally icon within the image.

2. Enter the image description in the Add alternative description box and click Add.

For images in Microsoft Office app files (Word and PowerPoint),  you'll need to add alternative text descriptions by following the steps below.

1. Open the Word file or PowerPoint on your computer.

2. Click Review > Check Accessibility.

An option for checking accessibility using Microsoft Word with a red arrow pointing to the words check accessibility. There is also an option for checking accessibility using Powerpoint with a red arrow pointing to the check accessibility option.

3. Click the right arrow. 

A red arrow under the Accessibility tab pointing to words that say Missing alternative text.

4. Hover over the first picture, click the down arrow and select Add a description.

Accessibility option with errors that indicate missing alternative text with a red arrow points to a highlighted text that say Picture 4. There is also a red arrow with a red two next to it pointing to a dropdown menu. Below that is another red arrow pointing to a highlighted option that says Add a description.

5. Enter in your picture description.

6. Click the X.

Alt Text description with statement that says How would you describe this object to someone who is blind or low vision. Also a red arrow point to an x or a close option.

7. Add a description to any additional pictures (figures). If your Word or PowerPoint file contains any stock images, thy will contain descriptions automatically.

Add Headings to A Document

In Microsoft Office products, use the Styles menu.

General Tips

• Use the built-in styles of your software to set headings; manually changing the font will not provide the required background coding.

• Stay sequential, do not skip levels

• Slide titles = headings in presentations

Blackboard Support Article

A percentage score reading 48 percent. Below the score there is text that says This document does not have headings. Blow this is a clickable box that says What this means. There is another highlighted clickable box below that says How to add headings.

1. Select How to set table headers and follow the instructions.

2. Open the Word file on your computer.

3. Place your insertion point in the text you want to make a heading style.

4. Click the Home tab and choose a heading you want from the Styles group.

A row of heading options with a red arrow pointing to Heading 1.

5. Save the file.

6. Go back to the file within your Blackboard course and click on the Ally score icon.

7. Click Browse, select the file, and click Open.

 

An Ally percentage score at 48 percent that says this document does not have headings. There is also a clickable box with text that says what this means. There is also another button that says How to set tables headings. Another clickable button is below this with a red arrow pointing to a browse option. This box also contains an option to upload a file.

The PDF is untagged

Blackboard Support Article

An Ally score reading 6 percent with words below that saying This PDF is untagged. A box below this score that says What this means.

1. Select How to tag a PDF and select Yes.

2. If You Have the Original Word file

        a. Open the Word file on your computer.

        b. Place your insertion point in the text you want to make a heading style.

        c. Click the Home tab and then choose a heading from the Styles group.

A row of heading options with a red arrow pointing to Heading 1.

d. Save the file.

e. If you want to save it as a PDF file, then do the following:

      i. Click the File tab and then enter in a title.

Screenshot with the words Info at the top. A PDF entitled Bringing Ballroom to PE Class. There is also a red arrow pointing to an option that says Add A Title.

      ii. Click Save As and save the file as a PDF.

      iii. Go back to the file within your Blackboard course and click on the Ally score icon.

      iv. Click Browse, select the file and click Open.

Ally score percentage that is at 6 percent. Under the score are text that reads This PDF is untagged. Below this is a clickable box with words that say What this means. Below this is another box with text inside that says How to tag a PDF. Below is another box with a red arrow pointing to the option to browse for a file or to drop a file into the box.

3. If you don’t have the Original Word File just the PDF file, you have two options:

      a. Option 1 - Open the PDF file in Word and then repeat the above steps.

      b. Option 2

                      1) Open the PDF file in Adobe Acrobat.

                      2) Click All Tools.

Red arrow point to an option reading All tools.

                        3) Click View more.

Text that says All tools with several different options below to help make a PDF accessible. There is a red arrow pointing to the option to view more at the bottom of this list.

               4) Click Prepare for accessibility.

Red arrow pointing to an option that says Prepare for accessibility.

           5) Click Automatically tag PDF.

Rad arrow pointing to an option to automatically tag a PDF.

           6) Save the document. 

Red arrow pointing to a save file image.

7) Go back to the file within your Blackboard course and click on the Ally score

icon.

8) Click Browse, select the file, and click Open.

Ally score percentage that is at 6 percent. Under the score is text that reads This PDF is untagged. Below this is a clickable box with words that say What this means. Below this is another box with text inside that says How to tag a PDF. Below is another box with a red arrow pointing to the option to browse for a file or to drop a file into the box.

Remove Potentially Harmful Content

Blackboard Support Article

Ally score reading zero percent. Below is text in a red box that says this image can induce seizures. Other text in the box reads potentially very harmful. There is another box in the red box with words that say What this means inside. Below the red box is tex that says we recommend that you remove this image if it's not critical to your course. There are two clickable options below this. One reading No I need to keep it. The other box has text inside that says remove it.

Scanned PDFs

See: Blackboard Support Article 

Ally score with a zero percentage number. Below this score are words reading this PDF is scanned. A box with text in. The text says What this means. Another box with text in it that says How to fix this.

1. Select "What this means" (see above) if you are not sure and want to learn more.

2. Now you can fix a scanned  file right within Blackboard. To begin the process, click on preview and apply. As you can see in the image below, the accessibility score is 0%, so this will need to be fixed. You can do so by clicking on preview and apply.

A PDF image to the left with red arrows pointing to an Ally score reading zero percent, another arrow pointing to words that say applying OCR adds a hidden text layer, making the content accessible without changing its appearance. There is one more red arrow pointing to a box that says Preview and Apply.

3. On the next screen, click on apply.

An image of a PDF to the left with a red arrow on the right pointing to text that says Review and preview before applying the OCR fix. There is another red arrow at the bottom pointing to an option that says apply.


4. The accessibility score has now gone from 0% to 66%. To get your score into the "green" category designating improved accessibility, you may have to fix other issues in your article after you've applied your initial fix. As you can see in the image below, this particular article needs a title.

A PFD image with a red arrow pointing to the title, which says It Pays to Get Healthy. Another red arrow pointing to a 66 percent Ally score. Another red arrow pointing to a sentence that says PDF does not have a title. There is a red arrow below this pointing to a box for setting your PDF title. Then there is another red arrow a the bottom of this image pointing to an option that says Apply fix.

5. Give the PDF a title where indicated and click apply fix. 

6. After the fix has been applied the score for this article is now at 67% percent, which is considered a passable score for Ally (see below image).

PDF image on the left with a red arrow on the right pointing to a 67 percent Ally score in green. There is another red arrow on the right pointing to words that say remaining issues to resolve. There is another arrow below this point to words that say the PDF has been OCR'd with a score of increase up to 67 percent.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. You can also fix your documents within Word. If you have the original document, such as Word, open the file, run the Check Accessibility option, fix all of the accessibility, save the document, go back to the file within your Blackboard course and click on the Ally score icon, Click Browse, select the file and click Open.

2.  If you don’t have the original document, then open the PDF in Adobe Acrobat.

3.  From the All Tools panel, select Scan & OCR.

Drop down menu entitled All Tools. Below this are options to make PDF accessible with a red arrow pointing to the option to Scan & OCR.

4. Click in this file below

Red arrow pointing to the option to recognize text in the PDF file you are working on.

 

5. Click Recognize Text.

Drop down menu entitled In this file with a red arrow pointing to a blue button that says Recognize text inside of it.

6. Click the left arrow.

An option to covert your PDF with a red arrow pointing to words that say Scan and OCR.

7. From the All Tools panel, click View more.

A menue called All Tools with a list of options to made a PDF accessible. There is a red arrow pointing to the view more option.

8. Click Prepare for Accessibility

A red arrow pointing to a command that says Prepare for accessibility.

9. Click  Automatically Tag PDF.

A red arrow underneath text that says Prepare for accessibility. The red arrow points to text that says Automatically tag PDF.

(NOTE: If your PDF file does not have images then skip to step 15 to enter in title.)

 

10. Click Add alternative text

A drop down menu entitled Prepare for accessibility with a red arrow pointing to the option to add alternative text.

11. Click Ok. 

A pop up window for Adobe Acrobat with a statement reading Adobe will detect all figures within this document and display associated alternative text. Below this is a red arrow pointing to a box that says ok inside of it.

Enter in a description within the Alternate text field. You will need to go through your images to make sure that they either have an Alternate text or you can mark it as Decorative figure.

Red arrow pointing to a check mark box with the words decorative figure next to it. There is another red arrow with red lettering next to it reading enter in Alt.

12. If you have another image, then click the right arrow which will be blue and enter in the description.

A red arrow pointing to a blue arrow for opening up a text box and entering in a description of an image.

13. Once you are done addressing all of your images, click Save & Close.

14. Click Menu > Document properties.

 

Drop down menu entitled More. A red arrow with a red number 2 next to it pointing to Document Properties.

15. Make sure that the document has a title. (Note: If the document does not have a title, you will need to add one).

Text boxes with an arrow pointing to enter in a title. A red arrow below this pointing to a clickable button that has text in it that says ok.

16. Click OK.

17. Save the file.

18. Go back to the file within your Blackboard course and click on the Ally score icon.

19. Click Browse, select the file and click Open.

Fix Text Contrast

What and Why:

       • Color Contrast = Contrast between the color of text or an image and the background color (e.g. black text on white background)

       • Eases reading experience for users with vision-based disabilities, chronic migraines, reading disabilities, and more

       • Decreases impact of technology access, such as old monitors or high-glare environments

In Microsoft Office Products, use the Font menu. You can customize colors and use Hex Keys in the More Colors menu.

 

General tips

         • Do not use color as sole indicator of importance

         • If not using a color contrast tool, stick with dark text on a light background or light text on a dark background. 

A color graph with several different colors within it. This color graph shows how to change the color of text in a document by clicking on your color of choice.

Blackboard Support Article

Two Ally scores. The one on the left is a 17 percent and it is in the red. Below the score is says This presentation contains text with insufficient contract. The image on the right shows an Ally score of 5 percent. Below this score it says this document contains text with insufficient contract.

1. Open the Word or PowerPoint file on your computer.

2. Click Review > Check Accessibility.

Red arrow pointing to the accessibility checker in Microsoft Word. Also a red arrow on the right pointing to the accessibility checker tool in PowerPoint tools.

3. Click the Right arrow.

Accessibility tab inspection results with a red arrow pointing to a warning saying that there are 3 text sections with hard to read contract.

4. Click the arrow down, click the right arrow and then select a color such as Black. 

Red arrow pointing to a dropdown menu. Another red arrow pointing to font color display changes. Another red arrow pointing to the black color on a grid of colors that will change the color of the font in the document.

5. Repeat steps for any additional text contrast issues.

Font Selection

What and Why

       • Font = Style of text

       • Using fonts with defined letters eases reading for those with vision-based and reading disabilities

       • Allows for wider variety of screen varieties and types

       • Easily distinguishable text creates better alternative formats (e.g. Word to Learn item)

 

In Microsoft Office products, use the Font menu.

General Tips:

      •   Avoid script, handwriting, and other highly artistic fonts

      •   Avoid lite/light font styles

      •   Use familiar/common fonts

      •   Stick with size 12 or larger

A list of font names in a drop down menu.

Print Article